PM speaks of urgent need for curriculum reform

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday highlighted the urgent need for the reform of the Thai school curriculum, saying that it was imperative to strengthen the minds of young people and enable them to understand the advances of human thinking.

In a wide-ranging speech on his weekly radio address to the nation, the prime minister pledged that over the next four years his government would adjust the architecture of the Thai education system to better reflect the development of the human brain at each age.

Comparing education to house construction, he said that if the techniques used were wrong the house would remain weak, but that if the techniques used were correct, the house would be strong enough to withstand further extensions in the future.

“The brain is the same. If we organize a good design for knowledge, or a good curriculum, if we look after children from birth to ensure the development of their brains and learning which accords with this, it will be like creating a house with strong foundations. When the brain of a child is strong, they can continue learning throughout life”, he said.

With educational reform near the top of its political agenda, the government has promised to distribute gift packages to all newborn children from 28 July onwards, with the contents of the packages designed to allow parents to help in their infants’ development.

--TNA 2005-04-10

Oh, god, not again. They've been rewriting and rewriting and reforming and reforming and translating and editing curricula at just about every Thai school I've ever heard of now for so long that the number of dusty, unread notebook binders probably could reach the moon and back by now. Whenever some bureaucrat says this "reform the curriculum" thing in Thailand, read for that "pretend to be doing something and make the teachers kill trees."

"Steven"